Cecil the lion and other endangered animals (Including Wolves) are projected on to Empire State Building

The Empire State Building broadcast images of endangered animals to New Yorkers on Saturday in a video projection said to be the first-of-its-kind.

At one point an image of Cecil the Lion, whose death at the hands of an American hunter last month caused international outrage, was broadcast in a picture more than 350 feet tall and 180 feet wide.

In total 160 species of endangered animals including birds, tigers, leopards and bears were shown at the event, which was meant to spark conversations about mass extinction, according to NBC New York.

The images were put up over 33 floors of the building for three hours using 40 projectors stacked together at a rooftop two blocks away.

The landmark is decorated with lights of different colors for various holidays, though organizers said Saturday night marked the first time that such as video projection had been done. The show was organized as part of a promotion for a new Discovery Channel documentary, Racing Extinction, which is set to air in December. Source

On May 5, 2012, a littler of 8 critically endangered Mexican gray wolves were born at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, NY.

At one day old, the noisy newborns are blind and deaf and are limited to moving via a slow wiggly crawl or less controlled roll! Within a couple of weeks the pups’ vocalizations will no longer be limited whimpers and peeps, and they'll be nimble on their feet!

The Mexican gray wolf is a subspecies of the gray wolf. Commonly referred to as "El lobo," this wolf is gray with light brown fur on its back. Its long legs and sleek body enable it to run fast. Although their numbers have grown slowly, and they remain the most endangered subspecies of wolf in the world.

Pups are born blind and defenseless. The pack cares for the pups until they mature at about 10 months of age.

Moment two adorable little cubs got to grips with a child's backyard slide

Maryann Vanadia came home with her daughters, Michelle and Gabrielle, to find a momma bear and her two cubs rummaging trough their trash, playing on their rocks and even exploring their playground slide.

"It was wild to see," Vanadia said. Vanadia had just parked in her driveway when she saw the bears.Their garbage can had been tipped over, and the larger bear was poking around in it, searching for lunch. Then it was playtime.

"I've seen trash spewed out on the backyard before, but never have I seen bears out there when they're doing it," Vanadia said.

The bears were in the backyard about 20 minutes, and Vanadia's children snapped about 70 pictures from their nearby garage, capturing a moment they weren't likely to forget anyway, she said.Source

Big news: Roux the Pomeranian had to sneeze, and it was the cutest puppy sneeze ever.

A few things this puppy sneeze sounds like: an electric toothbrush, a remote control car, a tiny power tool, the sound of all our collective hearts singing.

If only all our sneezes were this adorable. Gesundheit, Roux.

The Pomeranian (often known as a Pom or Pom Pom) is a breed of dog of the Spitz type, named for the Pomerania region in Central Europe (today part of northern Poland and eastern Germany). Classed as a toy dog breed because of its small size, the Pomeranian is descended from the larger Spitz type dogs, specifically the German Spitz.
(Mashable)

YouTube user NCARalph captured this amazing footage of young crows keeping themselves entertained by swinging back and forth on a tree branch.

"These are wild crows playing in our back yard north of Boston, MA, USA, swinging upside down on a willow branch and knocking each other off. I believe these are a group of young fish crows who have been playing this game a few times a week for the last couple of weeks, always using the same branch."

What is the difference between a crow and a raven?
Crows and ravens, although in the same genus (Corvus) are different birds. (Think of leopards and tigers; both are in the genus Panthera, and are obviously related, but they are quite distinct animals.) The words "crow" and "raven" themselves have little or no real taxonomic meaning.

That is, the Australian "ravens" are more closely related to the Australian "crows" than they are to the Common Raven (Corvus corax). In general, the biggest black species, usually with shaggy throat feathers, are called ravens and the smaller species are considered crows.